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Two representatives from YouMe Nepal, Ms, Saraswoti Rai and Jharana Rai participated in the “NGO Day event” and “Experts Educators Conference” organized by Microsoft Innovation Centre, Nepal on December 11, 2015. Altogether, 17 NGOs from different parts of the country participated in the program

Microsoft Innovation Center Nepal (MIC) is Microsoft’s branch working as its wing in Nepal to provide different facilities and launch their Information and Communication Technology (ICT) related programs. It has a network of 100 centers in 40 different countries. It has been offering a comprehensive set of programs and services to students, entrepreneurs, academicians, professional software developers, IT professionals, local government agencies, organizations etc. The mission of MIC is to bring together people and organizations in the software ecosystem and give them access to resources, experts and facilities, collaborations and skills development.

The main purpose of NGO Day event was to highlight on the use of technological tools like crowd funding that help in raising funds for NGOs to run their programs. It was also aimed at empowering government School by donating computer lab under MIC`s “Edunet Nepal Program” i.e. “Infrastructure Donation and Digital Literacy Training Program” that have been operational in several public schools of the country.The Microsoft education programs and technology showcase was the main highlight of Educators Conference. During the conference, 120 educators from various parts of the country came together and discussed on how technology could be useful in educational institutions. It was organized to celebrate the importance of teacher’s contribution and educate them about the usage of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools as a motivating factor for teaching. By familiarizing teachers with new innovations, it was targeted at creating practical and productive teaching-learning environment at schools.

Being informed about several dimensions of technology, our members learned about digital literacy and the role it plays in the enhancement of students` intellectual growth. They also had an opportunity to interact with the representatives of several NGOs and shared our organizational vision. Most importantly, they got feedback from the organizers on the concept of our second school (which would be integrating ICT in its curriculum) that is in the planning phase.

I had an opportunity to participate in One Young World (OYW) Summit that was held in Bangkok from November 18 -21 in 2015. It was my honor to represent YouMe Nepal Trust being the sole representative from Nepal and meet with 1300 delegates from over 196 countries or regions, charities, NGOs, corporations and universities.

OYW Summit is a premier global forum organized by OYW which is a not-for-profit organization. The aim of the summit is to create a platform for youth between the age of 18-30 and help them build lasting connections so that they learn to develop solutions to the world’s most persistent problems.

Founded in 2009, OYW has staged 6 annual summits so far: London (2010), Zurich (2011), Washington (2012), Johannesburg (2013), Dublin (2014), Bangkok (2015). In these summits, well known figures from different spheres of politics, business, social causes etc. are invited as counsellors. Some of the notable figures or counsellors include noble laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, Kofi Annan, Unilever CEO Paul Polman, former president of Ireland Mary Robinson among others.

During my participation, I shared the vision of YouMe Nepal Trust with as many friends as possible and also spoke about the reason behind its establishment. Many delegates expressed their willingness to visit Nepal and also volunteer at schools built by YouMe Nepal in the future. In addition to that, I was also selected to make a call to Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations on behalf of Nepalese youth addressing the Prime Minister of Nepal.

This was truly a life-time opportunity that made me realize the kind of world we ought to live in: a world where we are not judged by the country of our origin but by our sense of responsibility to serve humanity.

This was also featured in one of the widely read English Newspapers of Nepal (http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2015-11-26/nepal-represented-at-one-young-world-summit-2015.html)

Upon the invitation of Hideki Kitayama, a teacher at Wako Senior High School, I (Joshi) had a pleasure to speak to High School seniors about Nepal, social concerns and the impacts of Great Earthquake 2015. It was an elective class named “The races and cultures in the world” in which students pick up several global issues, research about their background, discuss the problems and debate about the solutions.

For the second term of the course, Nepal was chosen as the country for case study. The students had researched about Nepal beforehand so as to acquaint themselves with the basic understanding. For my presentation, I picked up both positive and negative sides of Nepal with the use of a lot of pictures. The intention was to make students understand that Nepal is a country with some problems but with a lot of opportunity. The students carefully listened to the talk. I was very happy to respond to their questions on social issues like caste system, early marriage, and youth migration during the question and answer session.

What I was impressed the most about students was with their sentiments seeing the pictures of devastated Nepal in the wake of the recent disaster. I believe one of the important characteristics of a truly global citizen is regard other countries’ problems as their own. In reference to this notion, I found the students eager to explore more about global society. A few students came and talked to me personally after the class. They showed their willingness to visit Nepal one time in their lives.

Some even stated their strong desire to conduct research about Nepalese issues during their advanced studies. What could make you much happier than this? To this end, I thought I was able to serve my purpose. My hope is that these students continue their search allocating a certain portion of their heart for Nepal and Nepalese people even in the days to come.